Does your retirement plan help attract employees to your firm? Really? Are you sure? If it does, how do you measure this?

The best way to use your retirement plan to attract employees is to contribute a lot of money! For example, if you contribute 10% or 15% of salary, you will have an awesome plan. This would definitely get the attention of recruits.

Can your business afford to put in 10% or 15% for employees? I didn’t think so. If you can only contribute, say, from 2% to 4%, how do you position your plan? Do you say things like: you’re immediately eligible; there is no vesting schedule; there are awesome on-line tools; we offer an amazing selection of funds (by the way, be careful about promoting returns); there is a cool app for the plan; you can use an excellent investment management program for the plan; etc…

If you want to promote your plan it would make sense to have an aspect(s) of your plan that stands out from plans at the firms you compete with for staff. Some feature or component that genuinely makes your plan different. And it would be great if you could succinctly explain to prospective employees, in maybe 20 to 25 seconds, why your plan is unique. It would be even better if it is simple for people to understand and remember.

This is how we suggest our clients position their plan to prospective hires: AT ABC, WE WANT TO HELP OUR EMPLOYEES PREPARE FOR THEIR FUTURE. WE (CONTRIBUTE)(MATCH) X%. OUR PLAN COSTS ARE (20%)(35%)(50%) OF THE INDUSTRY AVERAGE, WE OFFER LOW COST FUNDS FROM VANGUARD AND PERSONAL GUIDANCE TO HELP YOU ENROLL AND PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE.

Would something like this work for your company? If you cannot contribute a lot to your plan, is there anything about your plan that you can promote?What is it? How does it work for you?